Chapter 6: Falling apart

After our fun day out, me, Ava, and Charlie spent a lot of time together. When we were around each other, all our troubles went away. We were safe and happy.

After spending the whole day at the once a year festival, we all went home. On the way home, we refered to ourselves as the Three Musketeers. We came home and the lights were off. That wasn't unusual, but ALL the lights were off, like nobody was home, and this time, it felt weird. I had a bad feeling, I could tell Charlie did too. Ava was only 7, so she didn't catch the vibe. She ran home and opened the door, but, she didn't have to. It was already opened a crack. It was pitch dark in the house, like you couldn't see in the house at all. I went in first, the lights didn't work. I grabbed a flashlight from my purse and turned it on. "MOM? DAD?" I called out. There was silence. It was quieter than normal. Ava stayed outside and Charlie follwed me to look for our parents. I heard a creaking sound, and a sound like someone was swinging a baseball bat before the big game. Charlie heard it too. It was coming from our parents room. I slowly opened the door, and there, right in front of my eyes, was my mom, swinging from the rope around her neck, a chair on the floor beneath her. Not far from her, was my dad. He was on the ground, blood pouring from his head, in his hand, was a gun. I dropped the flashlight and ran from the house. The moment I stepped outside, I hugged Ava tighter than ever, thinking that if I ever let her go, she'll be gone forever. Charlie didn't follow me though. He stayed inside. I put Ava in the car, ignoring her asking me what's wrong. I called 911 and police arrived 2 minutes later. Charlie was inside the house and was just staring at them. Even though I tried to cover Ava's eyes when they wheeled out the bodies, it didn't work. Ava had a full blown meltdown. She started screaming and crying and kicking and punching. I couldn't blame her. Then, I overheard Charlie screaming and pointing at the bodies and he said something that surprised me. He said, "MOTHERFUCKING COWARDS! LEAVING US WHEN WE NEED THEM MOST!" He started getting angrier and angrier by the minute. I eventually calmed him down, and they took all three of us to the police station.